Faith

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Whatever your “strivings” for today, I pray that this, my humble offering, might, in some divine way, help you to trust the Lord to “drop His still dews of quietness” in your world in such a way that you are also aware of His wonderful peace:

For the last several weeks, I have been singing to the Lord a song that often plays on Christian radio. It goes something like this: “I won’t worry about the past; I know my future is intact. I’m gonna let my little light shine like there’s no tomorrow... ” I’ve been singing it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve been “feeling” it. Sometimes, I think, we just have to speak things that do not seem to be so, regardless of the situation we “see.” That way, according to the Word, they “already” will be.

That’s the frame of mind I had this morning when I sat out on the porch after setting my charges (great niece and nephew) down to wait for lunch. I picked up my little, beat-up harmonica and began to play the tune I “hear” in my soul when I read John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem:

“Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.”

As I played, I recalled a nickel-plated tenor sax I’d seen on E-Bay several months ago. It was steal for $800.00! Oh, how Jesus, Kenny G. and I would find us a little hole somewhere and seldom ever be seen again! I just know I would praise Him with music from my heart until I retire from this world! The “David” in me would be so, so ecstatic. But I don’t have a tenor sax of any kind, much less a nickel-plated one. I considered the fact that I am fortunate to know how to play at all, however rusty I’ve become, and that I’m fortunate to have a praise in my heart to begin with. And I continued to play my little, beat-up harmonica... parump apum pum.

We’ve had a severe drought, here in north Texas, for the last few months, dried-up lakes, fires breaking out all over the place, water shortages, etc. Yet, my attention was drawn to the fact that the air was thick, thick, thick with moisture. I glanced over at my older model F150. It gets me from here to there. It’s not much to look at, but it’s truly a blessing nonetheless. (That blessing is a story in itself. But you know who you are and I’d rather see the Lord exalt you than to publicly praise you here anyway.) It certainly does not, with its leaking power-steering pump, offer me the comfort that that Lexus SUV I’ve dreamt about surely would. It hadn’t rained, but droplets of water sat still on the windshield and hood... parump apum pum.

Vehicles... I wrote a poem a few years ago about being hit by a train. (It wasn’t a real train.) What a horrid memory. Like disobedient little children whose parents insist that we hold their hands when we cross the street, we run out into the traffic just as soon as we get the chance. Whereas, if we’d just listened in the first place, we’d never have had to experience being traumatized.

An entirely different event, years before: My right ankle was run over by a car when I was five. I was lying on my stomach in the street, yelling back and forth through a culvert with my stepsister. She yelled “There’s a car coming.” But I didn’t hear her. Mom was indoors, doing chores. But our Father in heaven never, ever takes His eyes off us. At that point in my thoughts, still playing away on my little, beat-up harmonica, I realized that I long ago slipped my little-girl hand into the able hand of my Abba Father. But, what I didn’t do was trust that He was most able to keep me from traumas like the ones I have experienced in the past... parump apum pum.

Neither had I truly, truly trusted Him with my future. (With my salvation, yes, but not with my future on this earth.) As I played, I reached up again and slipped my tiny hand into His most able one. “I don’t want to let go, Daddy. I never, ever want to let go.” I could feel Him smile at me as He guided me along the turn in this “crossroad.” I don’t know where we’re going, but I trust Him... parump apum pum.

“Sweet, sweet child of Mine, eyes have not seen, nor ears heard the good things I have in store for those who love Me.”

I’m not worried about the past. I know my future is intact. I’m gonna let my little light shine like there’s no tomorrow. He drops his still dews of quietness and causes all my strivings to cease. He takes from my soul the strain and stress and lets my ordered life confess the beauty of His peace. Right now, as I write, there is a light rain outside, refreshing our dry, parched ground. He gives me peace, not as the world gives, or even understands peace... parump apum pum.

“When you are consumed by the strivings around you, I Am. When you call on Me, I Am. When you forget to call on Me, I Am. I just Am.”

He is. Oh, He most definitely is. And therein is my peace. The Word tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, that He will give us the desires of our hearts. Desires change when you’re delighting yourself in Him. He becomes your desire when you’re delighted in Him. And the more of Him you know, the more of Him you want to know. We’re first hungry, then filled. And that filling makes us hungrier for more. So, we’re filled again, and again, and again. No wonder He said “Blessed are those who hunger.” He is our Need-filler. And He is fully aware of what we need. We need Him... parump apum pum.

All the neighbors were either gone off to work or not at home for some other reason. Or, they were closed up in their houses. It was just the Lord and me, the misty air, the distant sound of a busy Texas highway, a few birds braving out the moisture, and my little, beat-up harmonica. And suddenly, suddenly, my strivings were halted.

“I Am. And I Am well pleased. For truly, I DO inhabit the praises of My people, however meager, however ‘little and beat-up’ those praises may be.” ...parump apum pum.

I stopped right here in typing up this “meager offering” to do one of those things I’ve been chosen to do... to instruct my “charges” in the way they ought to go. I tuned the TV in to a Christian music station without a picture. We danced together around the living room. The first song we danced to? “He Will Never Leave You Alone!” PARUMP APUM PUM! Inhabit? Whew! Did He ever! And during that song in which we “delighted ourselves in Him,” the lady singing quoted this scripture:

Joshua 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

It isn’t so much what WE say about things that seem not. It’s all about what HE says. He cannot lie! That in itself should be enough to make us content in WHATEVER state we find ourselves in... whether sick, hit by a train, run over by a car, not knowing where our next meal is coming from or where we’re going to lay our heads, concern for wayward children, or any other “strivings and stress” we might have to deal with at the time. He is. He IS! And if that isn’t enough to move us from a little, beat-up praise and into a HIGHER praise, then I just don’t know what is! The song we danced to after that? “Higher, Higher!”

Grace and peace to you. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are TRUE, whatsoever things are HONEST, whatsoever things are JUST, whatsoever things are PURE, whatsoever things are LOVELY, whatsoever things are OF GOOD REPORT; if there be any VIRTUE, and if there be any PRAISE, think on these things. Can you think of anything or anyone other than The I Am that is more worthy? He IS! To God be the glory! Great things He has done! ...parump apum pum.
© Joyce Pool

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